Just The Caffeine Talking

Random Encounters: Fantastic Egypt (Part 2, The City)

Assuming you made it past the desert, the ribbon of black earth and green vegetation hugging the banks of the Nile is studded with grand cities. They are filled with whitewashed brick houses, grand palaces and temples of stone, and busy markets. As the richest kingdom in the ancient world, Egypt is renowned for luxuries, learning, and magic.

ENCOUNTERS IN A FANTASTIC EGYPTIAN CITY

Roll 1d20 when moving around the city, 1d10 when staying in one place.

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Plot-advancing encounter: Someone or something related to whatever brought you to a city in Fantasy Egypt.
3. Beggar With a Fantastic Tale of Woe: A poor unfortunate who claims he is actually a wealthy merchant whose house and goods were stolen by a wicked magician.
4. Crocodiles: 1d4 vicious Nile crocodiles looking for food along the riverbank. You qualify as food.
5. Flies! For 1d6 hours the city is blanketed in a dense swarm of biting flies. They're so dense you can only see a few yards. Anyone venturing outside takes damage from their bites, and risks disease.
6. Ghost Cat: A pure-black cat with golden eyes seems to want you to follow her.
7. Gossipy Barber: Amenhemen has a quick razor and a quick tongue, and he knows everything going on in town. He's your source for news, rumors, job openings, directions, and a smooth shave.
8. Greedy Officials: 1d4 bureaucrats in linen kilts, demanding fees and/or bribes from the player-characters. They can be placated with 10 pieces of gold each, but if you cross them, the officials can throw innumerable obstacles in your path as long as you remain in the city.
9. Runaway Chariot! The horse drawing a nobleman's chariot has bolted, dragging the chariot and a panicky nine-year-old child on a wild course through the streets. If you can stop it without harming the animal, you'll be richly rewarded.
10. Undead Sorcerer: A mummy wearing mostly-convincing human disguise. She is a very powerful magician and is looking for some loyal and well-trained agents to serve her mysterious plans.
11. Bored Aristocrat: The lady Rahepshet is bored, and you've been selected to entertain her (you don't get a vote). She offers you gold to perform a series of increasingly ridiculous tasks, most of which involve public humiliation and/or the risk of bodily harm.
12. Crime in Progress! A band of 1d6 thieves armed with short swords are robbing a money-lender.
13. Foreign Quarter: This part of town is inhabited by non-Egyptians — Greeks, Jews, Nubians, Elves, whatever. They are suspicious and fearful of Egyptians, and even more suspicious and hostile toward non-Egyptians who aren't their own kind.
14. Gang of Thieves: A gang of 2d6 thieves armed with clubs and knives try to rob you. They pretend to be harmless idlers, then strike by surprise.
15. Haunted Palace: An old palace by the river-side, surrounded by overgrown gardens and crumbling walls. It is said no one can spend a night there and survive.
16. Nest of Ghouls: A dry well hides the entrance to a network of tunnels inhabited by 2d6 ghouls. They try to snatch passers-by when no one is looking.
17. Singing Statue: A great stone statue of a seated king, which sings at dawn.
18. Temple: You come upon a temple to the city's tutelary deity. It's a big complex, and serves as a center for learning, charity, and business as well as worship. Some of the priests are well-versed in magic. Evil creatures fear to enter.
19. Wall Collapse! As you pass through a narrow street the wall of a house under construction collapses on top of you. Only the most agile can avoid getting hurt. Was it an accident — or did someone arrange it on purpose?
20. Tracks/aftermath: Reroll to see what you just missed.

SITUATIONS IN AN EGYPTIAN CITY

Roll 1d6 to determine the situation, then roll on the table above to figure out who is involved.

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

For more stories about encounters in exotic places (or not so exotic), check out my ebooks Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

The Inertia of Stereotypes

My family and I are fans of the past decade's amazing string of Marvel superhero movies. In the film Captain America: Civil War, the villain (not really a spoiler, here) is an eastern European military man named Zemo. What's interesting is that in the comic books, Zemo was always Baron Zemo, a Teutonic villain of the Nazis-in-Paraguay school.

Why is that interesting?

It's interesting because it shows something about the shelf life of stereotypes. In comic books published in the 1960s, Baron Zemo was a Nazi bad guy because of World War I.

Here's how it works. World War I was the first conflict I know of in which the democratic governments of the West engaged in large-scale, government-controlled propaganda aimed at their own citizens. (During the American Civil War the newspapers on both sides were notorious for their editorial independence, and even during the Spanish American War the jingoistic press coverage was not coordinated by Washington.)

One of the stock figures in First World War propaganda was, of course, the villainous Prussian aristocrat. It wasn't really surprising: the real German leadership was packed to the rafters with Barons, Counts, and Princes. While armies commanded by guys like Von Kluck, Von Hindenburg, Von Bulow, Von Falkenhayn, and Von Lettow-Vorbeck grappled with the allies on the ground, in the air the Red Baron and Count Zeppelin showed off German techological might. Especially in egalitarian America, a bunch of Teutonic toffs with funny mustaches and spiked helmets made perfect villains.

Fast forward a generation to World War II. The National Socialists were in charge of Germany. Now, the Nazis weren't fond of aristocrats — mostly. Hitler was willing to team up with the old-guard Prussian officer class (until they took up trying to assassinate him) but in general the NSDAP leadership were lower-middle-class or self-proclaimed "artists" like the Fuhrer himself.

But in America, wartime propaganda resolutely ignored the realities of Nazi internal politics and instead resurrected the evil monocled Prussian for another round in the ring. Wartime comic book heroes fought any number of titled German bad guys. And when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided to resurrect a World War II superhero, Captain America, they naturally gave him a Rogue's Gallery of old Nazis to fight, including the aristocratic Baron Zemo.

It took the fall of the Berlin Wall, the formation of the European Union, and the death from old age of nearly all Nazis to finally put Baron Zemo to rest. An aristocratic Prussian bad guy in 2016 would have been dreadfully dated, so the moviemakers moved him to the Balkans.

In short, the stereotype of the evil Prussian nobleman took about a hundred years to finally slide out of the public consciousness. Other stereotypes have had a similar shelf life. How many Frenchmen wearing berets and striped shirts just like they did back in the 1920s still crop up in film and cartoons?

It works the other way, too. When I was touring Europe as a college student in the 1980s, whenever I mentioned that I was attending the University of Chicago, the response was inevitable: "Ah, Chicago! Bang-bang-Al-Capone!" (At that point Mr. Capone had been dead for forty years.)

This points up an under-appreciated problem with stereotypes: they get obsolete. But precisely because they are things "everybody knows," we don't notice how out-of-date they're getting, and consequently make decisions based on inaccurate information. That's not just morally wrong, it's stupid.

 

For stories which are neither wrong nor stupid, check out my ebooks Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

 

Random Encounters: Fantastic Egypt (Part 1, The Desert)

Even historical Egypt was like a fantasy kingdom to ancient historians like Herodotus or Pliny. In a fantasy setting, all you need to add is a few monsters. This table covers the wilderness beyond the valley of the Nile — which visitors will have to cross in order to reach the rich Black Land of Khem.

ENCOUNTERS IN THE DESERT OF FANTASY EGYPT

Roll 1d20 when traveling, 1d10 when camped.

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Plot-advancing encounter: The heroes run into someone or something connected with whatever has sent them out into the desert in the first place.
3. Baboon Troop: 2d4 baboons, armed only with their fearsome teeth and claws. Against a large group they will be sneaky, trying to steal food and escape, but if they outnumber a party of travelers, they will attack.
4. Caravan: 2d20 camels loaded with goods, escorted by 1d6 mounted guards and 1d6 priests of Amun (their temple sponsored the trading venture). The goods on each camel are worth 1d10 times 100 gold pieces per camel, so the guards are alert.
5. Desert Raiders: 1d12 nomadic tribesmen riding camels, armed with spears. They will definitely rob travelers, but may be persuaded to share water and give directions. Raiders have their weapons and some loot from the previous batch of unhappy travelers they encountered.
6. Gnolls: 2d8 Gnolls, with spears and shields. They serve dark gods of chaos and try to isolate travelers or break up large groups before attacking. These Gnolls have a pair of Hyenas as hunting animals.
7. Hyenas: 2d6 hyenas, which will trail prey until dark, then strike.
8. Meteor! The party sees a bright meteor flash across the sky and crash to earth just beyond the nearest line of hills. Others may have seen it, and a lump of meteoritic iron is worth its weight in silver.
9. Sandstorm! A tempest of hot wind and flaying sand, lasting 1d4 hours. It's impossible to see in the storm, and without protection everyone risks damage from windblown grit. Trying to travel in the storm will get you lost, and when it passes the landscape is altered and tracks are erased.
10. Winged Serpents: 1d8 venomous serpents six feet long, with leathery wings, come soaring out of the eastern sky to prey on anyone they spot out in the open. They have a poison bite equivalent to a cobra's.
11. Cobras! A nest of 2d4 deadly cobras in a rocky hollow that you just stepped in.
12. Dunes: You have wandered into an area of shifting windblown sand. There's no track here, and the loose sand slows progress to half speed. Check every hour to avoid getting lost.
13. Foreign Spies: 1d6 foreigners —Assyrians from the east, Meroeans from the south, or barbarians from beyond the Mediterranean — up to no good in the wilderness. They're observing caravan traffic, taking note of patrols and fortifications, and making contact with desert tribes. They are well-armed and accompanied by 1d8 guides and servants.
14. Giant Scarab: A beetle the size of a Volkswagen erupts from under the sand, snapping at you with its huge mandibles! Its den under the sand contains 1d6 enormous hungry grubs (which fear the sunlight), and the scattered belongings of a dozen unlucky travelers.
15. Haunted Tomb: A forgotten desert tomb, which proves to connect to a whole warren of catacombs and tunnels. 2d10 Ghouls live down there and will come seeking prey. There is quite a lot of treasure hidden in the tunnels.
16. Mirage: It looks like dark shrubs and the glimmer of water in the distance. You'll need to use your willpower to resist going in search of the nonexistent oasis, and the longer you've been in the desert the harder it is to fight the urge.
17. Oasis: It's too small to support a settlement, but there's a small spring among some boulders ahead. Though the water's bitter-tasting and muddy, it'll keep you alive, and there are bushes and tough grass for your mounts to eat. Animals come here to drink so there's a 1 in 4 chance of gazelles or birds every hour.
18. Shattered Colossus: It's a statue half-sunk in the sand, and the face has a sneer of cold command on it. Nearby there's the original base of the statue, but you can't read what's carved on it.
19. Sphinx: It's cunning and likes to attack travelers by stealth. If it cannot surprise its victims, the Sphinx offers them a contest of riddles instead. It knows a lot of riddles. It knows a lot of other things, too, and clever opponents can trade information as long as they keep their guard up.
20. Tracks/Aftermath: Reroll to see what you just missed, or what missed you.

SITUATIONS IN THE DESERT

Roll 1d6 for the basic situation, then roll on the above table to see who's involved.

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

For more stories about strange encounters, check out my ebooks Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

Boskone 55, Featuring MEE!

On the weekend of February 16-18 I'll be at Boskone, the grand old New England science fiction convention, now in its 55th year. My schedule is below — stop in at the Westin Waterfront in Boston and join me!

Friday, February 16, 4:00 p.m.: Kaffeeklatsch — Join me for a cup of coffee and discussion of my works, forthcoming projects, science fiction, games, science, and anything else that comes to mind.

Friday, Feb. 16, 8:00 p.m.: Cambridge SF Workshop Group Reading — The members of the mighty CSFW (Heather Albano, Me, F. Brett Cox, Gillian Daniels, Alexander Jablokov, Steve Popkes, Ken Schneyer, Sarah Smith, and Cadwell Turnbull) get together for a rapid-fire group reading. I'll be reading about 10 minutes' worth of . . . something.

Saturday, Feb. 17, 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.: Basic Dungeons & Dragons — I'll be running a game session using my forty-year-old copy of Basic D&D. Come see how we did it Old School!

Saturday, Feb. 17, 2:00 p.m.: About Airships — Jeffrey Carver, Frank Wu, and I will talk about the history, fiction, and future possibilities of lighter-than-air craft.

Saturday, Feb. 17, 3:00 p.m.: Autographing — As always, bring anything and I'll sign it.

Sunday, Feb. 18, 11:00 a.m.: The Future of Work — A panel discussion on the future of work and how technology creates and eliminates jobs. Featuring Mark Olson, Karl Schroeder, Jeff Hecht, B. Diane Martin, and myself.

Sunday, Feb. 18, 1:00 p.m.: Weird Science and Odd Inventions — Join panelists John Murphy, Julie Day, David Shaw, and myself as we talk about some of the strangest twists and blind alleys in the history of science and technology.

And remember: program events are FREE on Friday before 6:00 p.m. (No charge for your first hit . . .)

 

 

 

 

Random Encounters: Aboard the Orbital Elevator

The Orbital Elevator, stretching from an artificial island south of Singapore 36,000 kilometers up to geosynchronous orbit, is one of humanity's great engineering achievements. Capsules leave the ground terminal every two hours, and the whole journey up the long carbon-fiber cable takes two days.

Each capsule is a self-contained spaceship, with lounges at the top and bottom, a dining room amidships, and 64 little compartments on 8 decks. You never know who you're going to meet . . .

ENCOUNTERS ON THE ORBITAL ELEVATOR

Roll 1d20 if the characters are moving about the capsule interacting with others, 1d10 if they remain in their own compartment.

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Plot-advancing encounter: Someone or something related to the reason you're aboard this elevator in the first place.
3. Alien: It's from outside the Solar System, and it's heading home now. But it left one small bit of business unfinished down on Earth, and is looking for someone who can take care of it.
4. Flying Unicorn: An asteroid-mining tycoon returning to the Belt is taking along a genetically-engineered pet for her children. It's a 20-pound unicorn with wide feathery wings, silky rainbow fur, big dewy eyes, and a mean streak a mile wide. Now it's loose and must be caught, but every hair on its body is probably worth a year's salary if it's harmed.
5. Helpless Traveler: He's never been outside the atmosphere before and needs help with everything, and somehow he's decided that you're his personal lifeguard and instructor.
6. Hunter Drone: A mechanical spider the size of a housecat, equipped with advanced face and voice recognition and a built-in poison dart gun. It's hunting for you, either for something you did or something someone thinks you did. There may be more.
7. Retired Space Pirate: He's traveling incognito, of course, and for some reason he's taken a liking to you. Until the capsule reaches the station at geosynch, you've got a friend with plenty of cash, a lot of practical knowledge, and a well-used laser pistol in his boot.
8. Solar Storm! The capsule is bathed in radiation from a solar flare. Everyone takes refuge in the "storm shelter" compartments at the center of each deck — unless you're willing to risk radiation exposure to sneak around when nobody's watching.
9. Spy: A Martian agent who has been warned that the authorities are waiting for him (or her) up top, so he's picked you as the best person to impersonate.
10. Unscheduled Stop: The elevator slows to a halt, halfway between the Earth's surface and the orbital terminal. The PA system says it's a "routine safety stop" but someone's using the airlock. What's going on?  
11. Concession Stand: It's no bigger than a closet, and the plump purple-haired old lady who runs it takes up most of the room. But it's amazing what she's got for sale: spacesickness pills, first-aid kits, power packs, hull patching tape . . . whatever you need most, she's got it.
12. Coolant Leak: One compartment is full of droplets of flammable coolant. Any spark could turn the whole place into a bomb powerful enough to destroy the whole capsule.
13. Face at the Window: You just saw it out of the corner of your eye, and when you turned to look it was gone, but you could swear you saw someone outside the window — ten thousand miles above the atmosphere!
14. Hostile-Environment Section: This whole deck is configured to reproduce conditions deep in the atmosphere of Jupiter. A Jovian envoy is heading home, uncomfortably squeezed into a single deck of the elevator capsule and feeling irritable.
15. Mesmerizing Lecturer: She's talking about the spiritual implications of space travel, and she's secretly using psychic powers or advanced subliminal technology to make her talk absolutely hypnotic — so hypnotic that her assistant can move through the audience searching pockets and wallets without being noticed.
16. Party Suite: There's plenty of booze and expensive psychoactive substances, and a dozen young people with someone else's money.
17. Sealed Compartment: The door is not just locked, it's bolted shut and there's a sign reading "DANGER" in big unfriendly letters. What do you suppose is in there?
18. Tense Standoff: There are four people in one compartment, all pointing guns at each other. One of them is clutching a briefcase, another is holding a small computer memory stick in her free hand.
19. Terrorists: They're planning to sabotage the capsule and need to plant one of their demolition charges in your compartment.
20. Tracks/aftermath (reroll)

SITUATIONS ABOARD THE ORBITAL ELEVATOR

Roll 1d6 for each situation, then roll on the table above to figure out who is involved.

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

 

If you like stories about strange journeys, check out my ebooks Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

Euthymus Contra El Zombi-Lobo Achaeanico!

Fans of Mexican B-movies are aware of the long-standing popularity of Luchador movies. These feature masked wrestling stars, but their opponents aren't other wrestlers, as one might expect. In film the Luchadores battle ghosts, spies, Frankenstein's monster, Aztec mummies, gangsters, mad scientists, aliens, monsters, and vampires. Sometimes all at once.

According to Wikipedia, the genre dates back to 1952, but Wikipedia is off by a couple of orders of magnitude.

In my copy of Georg Luck's Arcana Mundi, there's a snippet from Pausanius about the battle of the famous Sicilian-Greek athlete Euthymus of Locris, against the undead revenant of a murdered member of Odysseus's crew. Seems one of wily Odysseus's men tried to ravish one of the local girls in the Sicilian town of Temesa, and was stoned to death by the villagers for his effrontery. (Seriously, did Odysseus recruit the dumbest guys in Ithaca to go fight in Troy? Between raping maidens, slaughtering sacred cattle, and messing with magic items contrary to orders, those guys were an endless source of bother for their captain.)

Anyway. For a few centuries the dead man keeps coming out of his tomb in a wolf-like form and causing havoc, so the people of Temesa adopt the practice of making a sacrifice in the form of the most beautiful maiden of the village offered to be the Bride of the Monster.

Then Euthymus arrives on his way home from his triumph in the Olympic Games (circa 480 B.C.), and learns of this horrifying arrangement. He falls in love with the sacrificial girl and fights the undead wolf-ghost in a titanic display of Pankration fighting. Defeated, the dead man hurls himself into the sea, the curse is lifted, and Euthymus marries the fair maiden. 

Except for the fact that Euthymus didn't wear a glittery mask, this is precisely the plot of a Luchador movie, 2400 years early! One can imagine a whole cycle of Euthymus adventures, pitting the stalwart hero against a whole menagerie of Ancient Greek monsters. Shades of El Santo! Sadly, highfalutin' scholars like Pausanius didn't record those adventures. I commend the idea to anyone who wants to write them up, or use this as the premise for a Hellenistic-era roleplaying campaign.

 

If you like stories about people fighting strange beings, check out my ebooks Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

    

 

 

Random Encounters: City of Supers

Almost every superhero has a home town. Whether it's Batman's Gotham City, Superman's Metropolis, or Marvel Comics's shared New York City, it's the place where the heroes live in their secret identities, where their non-super friends live, and the place which keeps getting attacked by villains.

ENCOUNTERS IN THE CITY OF SUPERS

Roll 1d20 if the heroes are patrolling or moving about the city, roll 1d10 if they are working in their Secret Identity jobs or hanging out at the Hall of Champions.

1. Roll Twice and Combine
2. Animals Gone Wild: There's been a breakout at the City Zoo, or the circus — or maybe all the pets in town have turned against their owners. Stop them, preferably without harming the creatures too much, and then figure out what happened.
3. Attack! A supervillain's minions attack nearby while the heroes are in their civilian identities. Can they get changed in time to stop the marauders?
4. Clue: One of the heroes stumbles across something connected to whatever Big Case the supers have been investigating.
5. Crossover Issue! A hero from another city has come to visit. He's probably tracking down some old foe here in Super City, and may wind up needing help from the local champions.
6. Invasion! An actual army is attacking the city. The hostiles may be coming from space, under the sea, through a dimensional portal, or piling out of buses. They're armed, they've got uniforms and face-concealing helmets, and they're trying to take over. Who's in command of this assault?
7. Monster! It's big, destructive, and not very bright, and it's rampaging through downtown right now. Who sent it, and why?
8. Strange Apparition: A ghost, or a mysterious winged humanoid, or an alien being just out of phase with reality is prowling the city. What does it want? What does it mean?
9. Supervillain: He's a charismatic genius with formidable powers, but this time he claims he just wants to talk. What nefarious scheme is he plotting?
10. Weird Weather! It's snowing in summer, or raining frogs, or maybe the smog has turned deadly. The heroes must deal with accidents, panicky citizens, and crooks taking advantage of the chaos, all while trying to end the phenomenon and find out who's responsible.
11. Ambush! One or more supervillains were waiting for you to show up. They've picked the site for maximum advantage, and strike without warning.
12. Creepy Abandoned Building: The perfect place for a hostage exchange, an ambush, or a madman's deathtrap.
13. Deathtrap! The hero stumbles into a fiendishly clever trap. Can he escape in time?
14. Distraction! You spot your love interest out walking with a rival, or your feeble aunt being rushed to the hospital. Your civilian life and your heroic career are in conflict!
15. Hazard: An accident has just released a flood of whatever your hero is vulnerable to. Will you place your own safety first, or wade in to help contain the menace, no matter the risk?
16. Lair: The hero has stumbled across the bad guy's hidden lair. It's full of mooks, gadgets, and maybe a couple of captives.
17. Low Dive Favored By The Criminal Element: Full of mooks and low-level villains. Known heroes get a hostile reception, but someone in disguise could learn a thing or two of interest.
18. Power Up! It's just what you need to regain your strength — a fresh set of fusion reactor fuel, or a place of mystic power, or a truck loaded with canned spinach. But can you reach it in time?
19. Weirdness: Something really bizarre. All the other heroes have become villains, or the Communists won the Cold War, or a supervillain claims to have reformed and is running for Mayor. What's going on?
20. Tracks/Aftermath (reroll)

SITUATIONS IN THE CITY OF SUPERS

Roll 1d6 to determine the situation, then roll on the table above to see who the parties involved are.

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

If you like adventures with crooks and monsters, buy my ebooks  Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

 

If you like adventures with crooks and monsters, buy my ebooks  Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!

Random Encounters: Decadent Venice

The Most Serene Republic of Venice was a major player in Mediterranean trade and politics for at least nine hundred years, but in the 17th century the city's power went into a terminal decline. It went from being a commerical and naval power to being a tourist destination. Foreigners came to enjoy the Carnival season, which gradually stretched to last half the year. The canals and narrow streets became a hive of carousing, intrigue, crime, espionage, and seduction. The party lasted almost two centuries, until Napoleon's army put an end to Venetian independence for good. But during the Baroque Era, you could meet almost anyone in Venice . . .

ENCOUNTERS IN DECADENT VENICE

Roll 1d20 when moving about the city or seeking encounters, or 1d10 if the characters are staying in one place.

1. Roll Twice and Combine.
2. Plot-Advancing Encounter: Someone or something related to whatever brought the heroes to Venice in the first place.
3. Assassins! 1d4 professional killers armed with long knives dipped in poison, hired by someone to get rid of the heroes. It's possible they've got the wrong target, but try telling them that.
4. Con Man: He's got an elaborate scheme tailored to some wealthy mark — possibly one of the player-characters. Details vary, but the schemes always promise a great reward but only if the victim can provide a lot of cash up front.
5. Flood! An extra-high tide and unfavorable winds have raised the water level. The piazzas and alleys are under a foot of water — as are the ground floors of most houses.
6. Historical Character: Hey, it's Casanova! Or John Law, or Mozart, or the castrato singer Farinelli. The player-characters can hobnob with someone famous (or someone who will be famous later), and possibly get involved in some secret adventure.
7. Secret Police: 1d4 agents of the secretive Supreme Tribunal, investigating the player-characters as possible foreign spies or criminals. (Someone slipped an anonymous tip into the lion's mouth.) They're armed with swords and wear creepy full-length cloaks and masks. Resistance is proof that you're guilty of something.
8. Thieves: 1d4 house-breakers, stealthily entering through an upstairs window and looking for cash or easily-portable items of value. They have knives but will fight only to get away. If there's some MacGuffin in the adventure, that's what they're looking for.
9. Vampire: She's found the one place in Europe where someone who never appears before sunset isn't unusual. Posing as one of Venice's high-class courtesans, she drains her lovers of both health and wealth. And now she's got her sights on one of the heroes.
10. Wealthy Traveler: An English "Milord," or a political exile from France, or maybe an exotic visitor from Russia or America. He (or she) has money to spare, but is woefully naive about how things work in Venice.
11. Abandoned Palazzo: It's a huge, grand house but nobody has lived there for decades. Nobody except the hideous octopus monster which oozes up out of the canal every night to prey on whoever it finds.
12. Ambush! Your enemies (or maybe just a gang of robbers) are waiting in a dark, narrow alley. There are 1d6 men in cloaks armed with swords. En garde!
13. Boat Under Bridge: If you're on the water you can swing up onto the roadway; if you're on foot you can drop down into someone's boat.
14. Crooked Gambling Salon: The dice are weighted, the cards are marked, the dealers use sleight of hand to give you a losing hand, and if you complain there's a huge bouncer ready to throw you into the canal.
15. Masked Roisterers: 2d6 drunken gentlemen and courtesans in Carnival attire. They're at the aggressively friendly stage, but may feel insulted if you don't want to join them.
16. Neighborhood Church: One of dozens in the city, and at the moment Mass is being celebrated. Anyone can enter, and not even the most hardened thug would dare disrupt the service.
17. Spies: The player-characters stumble across a secret meeting, as a foreign agent passes information to her handler. The spies could be from any of Europe's great powers — and they'll kill to preserve their secrets.
18. Sunk! Your boat has sprung a seam or collided with another gondola. Whatever the cause, everyone on board is going into the water.
19. Water Ghost: The phosphorescent corpse of a drowned woman appears in the waters of the canal, beckoning for you to follow.
20. Tracks/Aftermath: Reroll to see what you just missed.

SITUATIONS IN DECADENT VENICE

Roll 1d6 to determine what the situation is, then roll on the table above to see who the participants are.

1. A desires B
2. A wants to capture B
3. A wants B dead
4. A wants to go somewhere
5. A wants to solve a mystery
6. A wants X

 

If you like historical adventures and exotic locations, buy my ebooks  Outlaws and Aliens and Monster Island Tales!